I’m quick to judge anyone I see walking in the street while staring at a phone. How can they be so unaware of the cars about to hit them? I’ve told myself. Don’t they care about their own safety? But one day, while crossing the entrance to a driveway, I was so focused on a text message that I missed a car at my left. Thankfully, the driver saw me and came to a quick stop. But I felt embarrassed. All of my finger-pointing came back to haunt me. I had judged others, only to do the same thing myself.

Maybe that’s why during the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (MATT. 7:5). I had a huge “plank”—a blind spot through which I was judging others but failing to see my own problem.

“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged,” Jesus also said (V.2). Remembering the annoyed look on the driver’s face that day, I’m reminded of the irritated way I treated others who seemed glued to their phones. None of us are perfect. But I quickly forget that when I’m busy judging others. We’re all in need of God’s love and forgiveness.

By: Linda Washington

To Pray About . . .

Heavenly Father, please help me be quicker to encourage and slower to judge.